Throughout our preteaching education programs and years of teaching experience, we learn so many strategies, but not all of them truly add value to the classroom or make our lives easier as teachers! Over the years, teachers try out new ideas and add strategies to their teaching arsenal. Here’s some quick teaching strategies that really do work, from my own experience!
Let Them Write on the Tables!
Did you know that most desks and student tables can function like a dry-erase board? Letting students write or show their work on the tables is a great way to engage students. I’ve had students in the past who have refused to complete an assignment, but when I brought over a dry-erase marker, they were more willing to show their work on a larger surface. I’ve used this strategy with individual students that I’m helping with homework and with my whole class – like when the copier wasn’t working and I couldn’t print out practice pages for everyone! During diagnostic math testing, I’ll let students decide if they want to show their work on paper or whiteboard markers and my students love having the choice. We use socks, tissues, or whiteboard erasers to clean up between each problem, and a quick wipe down with a wet paper towel or Clorox wipe gets rid of most residue once the lesson is complete! Note: I recommend trying this out on a table in your room to see if it works with your tables BEFORE handing out the markers to the entire class!
Never Miss an Opportunity to Review!
Many teachers miss small opportunities to review past lessons, strategies, and concepts as they naturally come up in future lessons. For some, it’s because they feel a time crunch, while others may think “we’ve already learned this, so they all must know it.” I always come back to the idea that most students don’t master everything we’ve taught, right when we’ve taught it. Taking a second or two to review, recall, or restate prior learning can make a big difference over time, especially with your struggling students!
To demonstrate this tip, I’ll compare two classes. Let’s say we have two identical 7th-grade math classes, who both taught integer operations in September. Now, a few months later, when solving equations, Teacher A assumes her students will recall the rules for integer operations and calls on students for the correct computation answer, then moves on. For students who struggled through the integer unit or have difficulties with recall, they are mystified about where these negative numbers are coming from or why they got 8 when the teacher got 3. These students struggle with equations as well, frequently making mistakes and feeling discouraged, but are too embarrassed to ask. Now, let’s take the same situation, but with Teacher B, who takes a second or two each time they run into an integer problem to review or restate the applicable rule. For example, when they run into a positive 2 plus a negative 3, they say “remember, when we are adding numbers with different signs, we subtract and keep the sign of the larger number. So what do we get here?” Through just one lesson, students hear this quick review upwards of 20 times. Hearing the integer rules so many times helps those struggling students build stronger connections in their brains and recall the rules more independently and successfully!
Explicitly Teach Students to Distinguish
After learning certain strategies, students can struggle with identifying when to use certain strategies and when they don’t apply. Sometimes, they want to use their newly learned skills on everything, leading to a lot of confusing problems! To help prevent or correct this issue, I explicitly teach students how to distinguish when each new strategy applies. To do so, I use a review strategy that I like to call “Or Nah”. With “Or Nah”, we go through mixed review problems and talk about if we should use our new learned concept or nah. For example, each year, I ‘play’ “K.C.C. or Nah” when it comes to solving integer subtraction problems. My students get really into this strategy, and we often joke that “Or Nah” is America’s favorite gameshow and I refer to students as contestants to make it more fun!
What are some of your favorite teaching tips, tricks, and strategies? Let me know in the comments!
